Chandigarh, January 29
Panjab University has decided to make examination and revaluation forms of the university available on the Internet. The decision has been taken to spare students from the harassment of personally coming to collect the forms.

While deciding to accept the forms downloaded from the Internet, the Syndicate also decided to merge the fee of the form with that of the examination fee and take one-time charges from the students at the time of submission of the form.

Also, affiliation to six colleges, five of them education colleges, was passed after a heated debate on the item. Mr Ashok Goyal recorded his dissent, claiming that the affiliation was being granted in violation of the university regulations since the applications for affiliations had been received after October 10, the last date for submitting applications. The item was finally passed after the Syndics quoted another regulation which allowed condoning of delay in receipt of applications.

The issue of non-teaching employees availing themselves of the benefit of half-pay leave also came under fire. It was claimed that the rule for the provision had been made in violation of the regulations. The leave in one such case on the agenda was not granted.

The Syndicate also constituted a committee to decide on 50 per cent fee concession to the wards of employees in the UIET while the resolution moved by Mr Prabhjeet Singh was deferred. The Vice-Chancellor was authorised to constitute various committees, including the Regulation Committee and the Standing Committee, among others.

While approving appointments under the Career Advancement Scheme and the regular appointments, the Syndicate also nominated Mr D.R. Gupta and Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh to the Board of Finance. It was also decided that the next meeting of the Senate would be held on March 20 and the meeting of the various faculties would be held on March 21 and 22.

Also, 11 students from various departments have been disqualified from appearing in any university examination for a period of five years after being found guilty of impersonation.

The Syndicate granted 24 PhD degrees while the Vice-Chancellor agreed to look into one case where a candidate had submitted his thesis without mentioning a single reference. A memorandum of understanding, signed between Infosys and PU, was also approved.

Chandigarh, January 29
The students of Guru Nanak Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Sector 30, celebrated the school’s annual day at Tagore Theatre here today. Mr Tarlochan Singh, Chairman of the Minorities Commission, was the chief guest on the occasion.

The programme started with a shabd recital followed by a colourful cultural programme. The tiny tots of the schools danced to western music and staged a play ‘Chirian da Chamba’. The manager of the school, Mr Paramjit Singh, read out the welcome address. Later, the chief guest gave away the prizes to students.

Good luck party:

A party to boost the morale of student appearing in the Class X board examinations was held at Bhavan Vidayalya, Sector 27, here today. Ms M. Mohindra, Principal of the school, said the ‘Good luck party’ was held in keeping with the tradition. Charu Sharma and Archit Dhir, speaking on behalf of the students, expressed their gratitude to the principal.

Animal welfare:

The NSS unit of Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, in collaboration with SPCA organised a rally to mark the ongoing Animal Welfare Fortnight. Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, Member of Parliament, flagged off the rally. The function would continue till February 2.

Debate:

The History Association of MCM DAV College organised an intra-college presentation contest on various evens and personalities. The students illustrated Jallainwala Bagh and creation of the Khalsa through multi-media presentations. The Principal, Dr Puneet Bedi, presided over the function.

Scholars talked need to strengthen the research facilities. Dr Devinder Singh, Dean (Languages), Panjab University, said no parameters were available on Punjabi research. He stressed the need to check repetition of topics of research and felt the need for supervisors to rise above prejudices and politics.

Papers concerning Punjabi language were presented. Gurmat Award, instituted in the memory of Late Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra was given to Prof Manmohan Singh of Patiala, who has translated Guru Granth Sahib into Devnagri script along with Hindi explanation and Dr Kharak Singh, eminent Sikh scholar. Each award has a siropa, a memento and Rs 51,000 cash. Mr Bharpur Singh, Secretary of the society, said the award would be given to scholars of Sikh religion, comparative religious study and Sikh history.

The award commemorates 400th anniversary of the installation of Guru Granth Sahib. From next year, to select the awardees, an eleven-member committee consisting of eminent persons had been formed.

Panchkula, January 29
A crafts mela was organised at Andale Public School, Sector 9, here, today. The crafts room of the school was decorated with crafts items like dolls, lamps, a snow man and multi-coloured chains made by tiny tots. Plants, coloured pebbles and stones of different shapes were also placed inside the crafts room. A bamboo hut placed between the trees added scenic beauty to the room. The schoolchildren showed their creativity by moulding waste material into crafts items.

Chandigarh, January 29
Mr Manjit Singh Chouhan, today challenged the election of the vice-president of District Bar Association.

In his application to a court, here, Mr Chouhan said his name was printed as Mr Manjit Singh only on the ballot paper instead of Mr Manjit Singh Chouhan. He claimed that he had filed nomination papers as Mr Manjit Singh Chouhan.

His name is registered as Mr Manjit Singh Chouhan in the roll of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. Deletion of the surname in the ballot paper has contributed to his defeat as he was known by his surname, he claimed.

Praying that election to the post of the vice-president be declared as “invalid”, he claimed that the list of the contesting candidates, published on January 21, had mentioned his surname.

When Madhur Bhandarkar decided to film his own tribe, his own type, he chose a script which spared none in the system — social birds,
police, glam-hunter, stars and upcoming models and actress. They all have one thing in common — they simmer with a desire to squeeze the juice out of life. Fun at any cost is important, even if means taking away happiness of the other.

But hold on-the truth uncovered here might not be mind-blowing but definitely is highly entertaining. Attending a funeral is no less important than being on the ramp. So missing the cremation is out of question.

Securing the coveted page 3 space which is not easy. To know the real face of the glam personalities is the constant craving of all and to decry them the all-time favourite topic.

So Konkona Sen becomes our darling as the camera captures the high-profile people from her eye. Her life-like presence helps her to project as a reporter who covers the page3 people. Hardly screen-conscious, her visits to night parties leaves us asking for more.

Atul Kulkarni, Bikram Saluja, Anju Mahendru and many new faces are in the limelight for their fine execution. The pace is hectic and characters flit in and out of the relationships and the reel often.

Child abusers, gays, drug-addicts all find mention in this focus on disco lights. The mindless gamble a starlet plays to get a role in films is not regretted. Sen’s roommate and air hostess (Sandya Mridul) marries a man twice his age not only because old is gold but it is “diamond too”.

Bhandarkar’s movie sets a trend which cannot be ignored. Film viewing will be little different after watching this. In terms of its social range and expose, we will ask for some more spice and a bit of truth which hits hard and amuses too.
— TNS

Nek Chand can be considered as an outlaw in the world of traditional artists but he has shown a way to others to look for beauty in seemingly uninteresting things in life. This ‘outsider’ is undoubtedly one of the greatest living artists of the world.

This was stated by Lucienne Peiry, Director of the ‘La Collection de l’Art Brut’ museum, in Lausanne, Switzerland, while addressing a press conference at Rock Garden here today. Peiry is in the city in connection with her book on Nek Chand.

The book will be released at the beginning of a series of exhibitions on Nek Chand in Europe during October. Exhibitions will be organised at six prominent museums in Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy. All events will feature a film being shot by Philippe Lespinasse.

Philippe will also take pictures for the book by Peiry which will have around 100 photographs. She has also come to invite Nek Chand to the event.

Peiry is working specifically in the arena of art which features “outsiders”. “I call my artists outsiders because they are not bound in the rigid boundaries of art for example the painters or sculptors. It was Dubuffet, a French artist, who for the first time in 1945 looked around for self-taught professionals and promoted them. Secret, solitude and silence are the hallmarks of outsiders.

“Facteur Cheval, a postman, collects his material from the junk while on duty. Simon Rodia, a mason of Los Angles, uses waste material left over from his job. None, however, has been able to match the magnitude of recognition that Nek Chand achieved.

“The exhibition and book on Nek Chand is about his personality and his work. Both are interlinked. Only a man of his worth could have worked in solitude for years working on material, thought as garbage by society. I have met and seen many artists in the world of outsiders but none can match the imagination and the self-created world of Nek Chand”, she said.

Philippe Lespinasse said the event later this year would be accompanied by performances by Indian artistes, particularly from the world of classical music and dance. He made a film on him earlier also which was shown on a French TV channel. “I recognise Nek Chand as the greatest artist living and can keep on making films on him, each time discovering expressions of his artistic journeys into self,” she added.

During his trip to Europe Nek Chand will also speak to art enthusiasts at the workshops being organised as a part of his visit.
TNS

Anupam Kher was today striking a different note. In city in connection with the shooting of forthcoming movie “ Yaran naal bahran”, the veteran actor, known for his versatility and sensitive portrayal of his characters, unveiled hitherto unknown attributes of his personality.

Parents should spend quality time with their children so that they could give them a strong foundation, said Kher, who he is playing the role of an Army officer and father of Juhi Babbar in the movie.

Young minds are full of questions but they don’t find any medium to satisfy their curiosity. So they end up creating their own answers, he said

He craves for the contentment that comes when he works for poor children. Whenever he gets time, he seeks their company. He would also like to visit one of the orphanage homes in the city and do something meaningful for them.

Talking about the talents hunt shows on television, he commented that these do help to some extent but are more on commercial terms. Showering praise on Punjabi film-maker Manmohan Singh, he said he had brought a revolution in Punjabi cinema and it would grow in the coming times.

Anupam Kher, who is in the eye of a storm over the censor board issue, says,” The recent development is that I have sent summons to Harkishen Singh Surjeet, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), through speed post. I would pursue this case until it gets resolved. Otherwise, I feel that no right thing would ever happen.”

The actor, who is also an alumnus of Indian theatre and drama of Panjab University, Chandigarh, feels that these departments were really good at the time of Balwant Gargi, teacher. But now they are in a bad shape. They look like old libraries. I should not comment like that but I feel that it should be run with passion and talent.

He is opening an acting school “Actor prepares”, which will be inaugurated on February 2. In every likelihood, Amitabh Bachchan and Amir Khan would inaugurate it, he said.

Though the courses would be costly, for Chandigarhians there would be a 20 per cent discount. There would be scholarships also for the deserving students.

“Religion is supreme for any society, as it imparts moral and spiritual education to inculcate social and national values and its sanctity should not be affected due to its misuse for achieving political or personal gains,” said Mr Tarlochan Singh, Chairman, National Minorities Commission, and Member, Rajya Sabha. He was addressing litterateurs at a function organised by two literary associations, Haryana Punjabi Lekhak Sabha Panchkula and Kalman Da Kafila, at the Press Club to felicitate him and on the occasion of release of book “Bikhre Palan Di Mehak”, written by Dr S.S. Arshi.

Having conquered western frontiers with his brilliance of technique, adroit mastery and in-depth understanding of the classical music California-based sitar wizard Aloke Das Gupta mesmerised the audience with his performance at the Pracheen Kala Kendra today.

He started his performance with a complex yet captivating rare raag, Manmanjri, which has the essence of three ragas like kalian, puriya and vachaspati. An exceptional treatment of ‘tihais’ with rhythmic patterns was the ‘master’s touch’ indeed.

Ahirbhav Verma accompanied him on tabla. Ahirbhav matched the expertise of the maestro in a rare display of nine beats taal which embellished the next presentation of raag Rageshwari.

The concert concluded with a ‘dhun’ in raag manjjh kamaj which was indeed a tribute to Ustaad Allaudin Kahn whom Gupta regards as a celestial musician. Kendra Director M.L. Koser honoured the artiste.
OC